Business

Upper Valley Corporate Energy Work Group

Corporate Energy Group

Vital Communities’ Corporate Energy Group meets throughout the year to discuss common energy issues among the Upper Valley’s largest employers. This group of business and institutional facilities managers and sustainability directors works to share best practices and collaborate on projects to increase energy efficiency, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and address overall sustainability.

The commercial sector accounts for nearly 2/3 of the energy used in the Upper Valley. However the businesses and institutions in the Upper Valley are doing a lot of innovative work to address their energy use and carbon footprints. To read a carbon emissions report of select Upper Valley businesses and institutions generated by Tuck School of Business Professor Anant Sunadaram,please read here.To get your business or institution involved, contactsarah@vitalcommunities.org.

Resources for Small Businesses

Rebates, Incentives, and Support

What local businesses and institutions are doing to address their energy needs:

Adimabis improving its heat recovery systems to help increase energy efficiency, while meeting the company’s current energy demands.

Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital recently changed out 7 Metal Halide lights to LED’s in their Medical Office Building parking lot. The total watts dropped from 2,545 to 740. They will be changing more as they progress with the hospital renovation and construction of their new medical office building.

Co-Op Food Stores is actively engaged in pursuing energy efficiency projects, such as reducing refrigerant leaks, as well as working to become reliant on local green energy.

Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center In 2014, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) converted their boilers from #6 Fuel Oil, one of the dirtiest fossil fuels, to Compressed Natural Gas. This conversion reduced fine particulate emissions, which pose the greatest health risks, by about 96%, sulfur dioxide emissions by over 99%, nitrous oxide emissions by about 75%, and carbon dioxide emissions by about 30%. DHMC has been installing electric vehicle charging stations for staff and visitor use, and is starting a large parking lot lighting retrofit to LEDs. We are also exploring opportunities to install solar on the DHMC campus.

Dartmouth Printing Company is currently converting the entire facility over to highly efficient LED lighting as well as planning to replace two aging HVAC units with more efficient models.

Downs Rachlin Martinconducted a comprehensive energy audit to target energy efficiency projects and work to adhere to LEED standards. They also are supporters of local energy and are working to approve the proposed Springfield, VT biomass project.

Hypertherm established an energy working group to set & measure kilowatt hour saving goals, and set up an incentive program to encourage employees to use transit and carpool.

Kendal at Hanover engages staff and residents in education and communication about energy usage, and encourage simple steps to change, such as powering the thermostat down by 1 degree and carpooling. Kendal is also a contributor to the efforts of the Town of Hanover to achieve the EPA Green Power Community Status, with Hanover ranking #19 in the nation in percentage of power consumed that is green.

King Arthur Flour recently conducted energy efficiency and retrofit projects such as recycling waste heat from their bakery to meet their current energy needs and keep money local.

Timken Lebanon is auditing high energy assets to look for opportunities for savings, idle versa total shut down. Timken has completed a study with the compressors and is currently exploring heat treat. Working with a local vendor on a potential LED light project, they are also using their new control package to schedule HVAC units for vacation mode during the off hours and weekends.

Calendar

February2018

Vital Communities Program News

Registration is open for the 17th annual Flavors of the Valley, the Upper Valley’s premier local food tasting expo. With 50+ vendors and more than 800 attendees, Flavors is a valuable marketing opportunity for farms and food businesses looking ...more

I am so excited to announce the 2018 mini-grant program at Upper Valley Farm to School! We have funding focused on both Vermont and New Hampshire schools. Start dreaming up your farm-to-school projects - we ...more

Locally owned businesses strengthen our community in many ways including job creation, tax dollars, charitable giving, economic vitality, responsive customer service, and community character. Local First Alliance business owners live in our communities and are our friends ...more

Re-making our transportation system will shift us toward better, cleaner, and more equitable living.
Imagine useful, affordable, and accessible village centers and downtowns with a variety of services, housing, and jobs. Where many people of ...more

We are excited to be celebrating the hot, new eatery in White River Junction
as Local First Alliance
Business of the Month in January!
Visit Trail Break taps + tacos January 11-25, give them a high five for being ...more

Celebrate the hot, new eatery in White River Junction
as Local First Alliance
Business of the Month in January!
Visit Trail Break taps + tacos January 11-25, give them a high five for being the BOM, and get a free chips ...more

Registration is open for the 17th annual Flavors of the Valley, the Upper Valley’s premier local food tasting expo. With 50+ vendors and more than 800 attendees, Flavors is a valuable marketing opportunity for farms and food businesses looking ...more

Every year, all completed Super Quests are entered into a grand prize drawing. The winner/winning team is picked at the annual Vital Communities Open House in White River Junction. At the event this past Friday, ...more

This summer, Vital Communities launched a special Valley Quest initiative known as the Watershed Quest Challenge. Through this fun, educational contest, we challenged individuals and teams (including school classes) to write a Valley Quest about any river, stream, pond, ...more

Local First Alliance is proud to represent so many members that make our economy strong. Retail stores are the businesses that many people think of when "shopping locally first", but the professional services-including accounting, insurance, and ...more

This fall, Vital Communities' Transportation Program collaborated with Go! Vermont to develop a one-page guide to transportation in the Upper Valley, with a focus on the Vermont side.
This new resource allows you to see what transportation options you ...more

Not sure when and where to catch Advance Transit or if the bus is on time? Download the Advance Transit Real Time App or check the Where’s My Bus? function on AdvanceTransit.com.
It Works!
Read our blog ...more

Vital Communities celebrated its Leadership Upper Valley Class of 2017 on June 14, in a commencement ceremony at Harpoon Brewery. Thirty of the region’s emerging local leaders graduated from the 10-month professional and personal development ...more

Thank you all for joining us to celebrate the young leaders who are being honored tonight, and thank you to Vital Communities for recognizing their important contributions to our community. It is so important to ...more

Merritt Patridge
Merritt Patridge joined the Tuck School of Business in 2015, where she serves as Executive Director of the Center for Business, Government & Society. Prior to Tuck, Merritt worked at The Dartmouth Center ...more

Staff

Paige Heverly

Transportation, Energy

— Paige Heverly, Energy and Transportation Project Coordinator

Paige Heverly joined Vital Communities in 2017 as the Energy and Transportation Project Coordinator. Hailing from the suburbs of Philadelphia, she moved to Vermont in 2011 and earned a joint BA in Renewable Energy and Ecological Design and Environmental Studies from Green Mountain College. After completing her Master of Energy Regulation and Law from Vermont Law School, Paige worked in energy efficiency consulting in Portland, Oregon. Her love of local food systems, the White River, and the Green Mountains brought her back to the Upper Valley to work on regional issues with localized solutions. Paige is passionate about closing ecological loops and treating waste as food. In her free time, she enjoys baking homemade English muffins, weeding her garden, and writing letters to her pen pals.

Sarah Brock

Energy

— Sarah Brock, Energy Program Manager

Sarah Brock joined Vital Communities in 2013 as our Energy Program Manager. Through her work Sarah provides support for our region’s 40+ local energy committees, engaging with dozens of volunteers and clean energy businesses in programs like Solarize Upper Valley, Weatherize Upper Valley, and the Upper Valley Green Real Estate Network. Prior to joining the Vital Communities team, Sarah was an Environmental Philanthropy Associate with the High Meadows Fund, a supporting organization of the Vermont Community Foundation. Sarah now lives in Warner, New Hampshire, with her husband Zach and her chickens. When she's not busy advocating for energy efficiency, Sarah enjoys playing the trombone and taking walks in her backwoods to look for signs of New Hampshire's abundant wildlife.

VITAL COMMUNITIES

Vital Communities’ work is at the heart of a vibrant Upper Valley region. We bring citizens, organizations, and municipalities together to address issues where an independent voice and regional approach are essential.